Friday, August 13, 2010

On the dark side

After the hugs and the cries of welcome, the first words my mom uttered upon seeing me and S were, "Why are you both so tanned?" Don't get me wrong. I have always belonged to the "curly hair, not so fair" species. I never been bothered about it either - perhaps I have been bothered about the curly hair part of it, as mentioned here. I used to get pretty pained when I saw the ads for fairness creams for women - who on earth mandated that being "fair" was the beauty ideal which Indian women should strive to attain? However, nowadays, I guffaw heartily when I see ads for fairness creams for *men*. Hahahah!

Anyway, I digress. Coming back to my story, I ruefully looked at mom and said, "I know. We got the first tan-coat at San Diego. Just when it was wearing off, we got a second, more-durable coat at New York city. This was followed by a third coat finish at Washington DC. By the time we reached Hong Kong, we were prepped and set for the final sealing coat."

July 2010 had been a month involving a lot of travel and sightseeing for us. While it was a lot of fun, it was also a lot of heat. I tell you, being in the Bay Area has spoiled me so much weather-wise. I imagined a similarly comfortable and pleasant summer in NYC and DC and was shocked to find that both the cities were giant ovens set at broil heat. Needless to say, we both were roasted and well-done by the time the trip was over. On the bright side, it prepped us well for the two days of Hong Kong sightseeing and for the current Chennai heat.

Now, some people, when they get tanned, get tanned evenly. So their entire skin takes on a nice, even, darker-hue. Not me, no siree. Instead, my skin gets tanned in splotches. So at the end of it all, I tend to look more like a human-cheetah or maybe a human-zebra than like a tanned-human. Sigh! Is it any wonder then that I tend to slather on copious quantities of sunscreen, at least on my face, before I go out into the sun?

Clearly, the sunscreen hadn't worked as well as I had hoped it would. So now, Mom has taken on "Operation De-tan Archu" with great alacrity. Every morning, she enthusiastically gives me a concoction of turmeric and cream (skimmed fresh off that morning's milk) - "to be applied right before showering". Then a cube of crushed papaya "to be applied to the face".

I strongly suspect that the only effect these rituals are having on me is to make me smell like day-old milk and old fruit-salad. Still, who can say no to such pampering?

7 comments:

Nikita A said...

Let me know if the de-tanning process works! ;)

SK said...

Hahaha!! But I think they might work, afterall all the hundreds of creams are made from fruits and milk stuff.
And seriously Bay Area is 'cold' even now. Me like the weather.

Archana said...

Nikita - welcome aboard! Sure, will do.

SK - haha, if not ath I think they might have some psychological effect :-). Aaargh, don't talk about the bay area weather!

Anita said...

It totally works. If you stay at home for the next two years and apply the stuff every single day, you will probably be glowing with even tone skin.

nourish-n-cherish said...

Smell like fruit salad :) Agree with Anita - just stay put inside and see how it works like a charm!

Archana said...

Sindu - seriously, I stayed put indoors for two days and my skin-tone improved. So the next step is to win a jackpot so that I stay indoors for the next couple of years....

Saumya - you people are so much help :-P!

free movie downloads said...

Yeah..I agreed with Anita. It totally works. If you stay at home for the next two years and apply the stuff every single day, you will probably be glowing with even tone skin.